🙂 Cycling!
🙁 Cycling!
We woke to a delicious breakfast served in our room – then we remembered the last of the champagne – could not let that go to waste!
We had a relaxed morning and then headed off for our afternoon of cycling in Porto Moniz. The rain was torrential and we considered cancelling but they had no other availability for the duration of our stay so we decided to push on and through the rain. We met the E-Bike Madeira team at our hotel: Aqua Natura Madeira where we parked and were transferred by mini bus up and into the hills. We were surrounded by frisky cattle! We were fitted with bikes and helmets – mental note: always remind them what a small head I have!
We soon set off … with the minor complication of a randy bull chasing cows in our general direction – hectic! It was raining heavily and everyone complained that I was going to slowly and that I needed to speed my e-bike up. It then came to a particularly steep hill and my bike just wouldn’t go … Paul checked on me – my battery had been flat the whole hour and I had been using my own man power and the rest of them had been on e-mode!! LOL. Charlotte very kindly swapped her battery for mine as she wanted to have a real physical work out….she did need to be towed a few times! Bless her heart.
We continued and I gained confidence with my new super fast bicycle – but pride comes before a fall …or even two falls! First was just a minor flesh wound on the knees but the second was a serious wipe out where I landed with the handlebars into my ribs – fortunately my iphone was in my jacket which was torn from the impact and my phone was dented – but no broken ribs – only badly bruised! We then opted for the roads which was a safer choice form my battered body! We finished off at Ponta do Pargo which is at the most western point in Madeira with a lovely lighthouse and absolutely gorgeous cliff views. The girls enjoyed a last steep off piste cycle to meet us there as we had taken the road.
It was a relief to head back to our hotel Aqua Natura Madeira which is wonderfully located right on the sea and the natural swimming pools. The Receptionist was a lovely girl from South Africa who gave us a very warm welcome including little gifts of postcards and pen, mini madeira bottles, a complimentary Madeira wine cocktail and a complimentary bottle of the psychedelic turquoise jade sparkling wine – so generous! …. it was so good to chill! The view from our room was awesome. On departure they also gave us some home made jam .. such special little touches – highly recommended .. oh, and the food was great too! Unfortunately it was still pouring with rain so we never got to swim in the natural sea pools … next time!
Go Back to: Madeira OR to Day 5 Food & Wine Tasting OR to Day 7 Canyoning
